Ars System Guide: October 2009 Edition

A few short months have seen some amazing developments in the world of computers. They’re not revolutionary—at least, most aren’t—but looking at their effects on the System Guide, we see some nice new options for us to consider.

Most affected by recent developments are the Budget Box and Hot Rod. The Budget Box usually packs more performance than ever with each update, as does the Hot Rod, and it’s getting to the point where we might not always want to bang on the the upper end of our price range because the best mix of performance and value might not always be at that mark. The God Box is also affected, but it’s not as dramatic because the changes are easier to consider. If the new top-of-the-line from AMD or Intel is dramatically faster, it can be considered. It’s not always straightforward, but it generally generates somewhat less debate.

The Ars System Guide is focused on three general all-around capable boxes, but with serious gaming capability:

The Budget Box: The Budget Box falls within the $600 to $800 range, and is aimed at getting you the most bang for your buck. While we aim for maximum value, this build is typically gaming-friendly, especially if you’re not intent on pushing it too hard with the latest and greatest.
The Hot Rod: This is our mid-tier system, and it falls somewhere between $1,400 and $1,600. Maximum gaming value is one of the The Hot Rod‘s main goals, but it’s also suitable for media work and other duties.
The God Box: If you’re one of the blessed few who can afford to spend between $8,000 and $10,000 on a system, then the The God Box is for you. But because gluttony is a sin, some prefer to just pick a few parts from this when they’re looking to give their Hot Rod a boost.

We also have specialty guides to cover other configurations, including cheaper boxes such as the Ultimate Budget Box (~$500) for truly basic systems, while the HTPC (price is variable) and Gaming Boxes (~$1,200 and $2,500~3,000) fill in some other common builds.

As for the aforementioned progress of the last few months…

More cores, and more graphics

To begin with, quad-core processors are cheaper, especially from AMD. More cores for less money are nice, but we have to balance this out as most applications still don’t make very good use of more than two cores. This means extra clock speed is often the way to go. Still, this makes the Budget Box interesting. The release of Intel’s new LGA1156 socket and additional Core i7 (and new Core i5) processors fit neatly into the Hot Rod.

The next major change is in graphics, with AMD’s new Radeon HD 5850 and 5870. This affects all of the boxes, although the Budget Box mostly benefits from price compression on older cards. And everyone’s favorite, the solid state drive (SSD), is getting very affordable for both the Hot Rod and God Box, with usability benefits that are stunning to many. The actual performance, though, may leave others less impressed—especially given that SSDs are still fairly costly and that things like faster video cards may give more benefit.

This guide covers quite a bit of ground, and if you are looking to build a new system, it may be a useful starting point. Moreso than before, we discuss not just our recommendations, but alternatives that the individual builder may want to consider.